Being the bad guy
by El loopy
Summary: Sometime after the incident in Kyoya's room Haruhi accidentally tells the other Host Club members what happened. Inspired by 1x8 'The sun, the sea and the Host Club' Oneshot. Some Kyoya x Haruhi (mostly one-sided).


_**A/N Sometime after the incident at the Beach with Kyoya Haruhi lets the cat out of the bag. Inspired by 1x8 'The sun, the sea and the Host Club!'**_

* * *

><p><span>Being the bad guy<span>

The twins were bored, and that never went well for anyone. They stalked into the club room on high alert for any potential victims. Haruhi was an easy one usually but they had given her a particularly intense bout of teasing earlier in the day and imagined she was probably still recovering. They didn't want to push her over the edge after all; even now they still weren't sure what a commoner's constitution was like.

The club members were scattered around the guest free room, each doing their own thing, and the twin's eyes darted from person to person before finally settling simultaneously on the same target, mirrored smiles spreading over their faces. As one they moved further into the room and circled their victim.

"Kyoya's not as bad as he would like everyone to believe," Karou taunted slyly, deliberately avoiding looking at the object of his jibe, instead trying to attract the attention of the others in the room.

"Is that so?" Kyoya responded, a small superior smile twisting at the corner of his mouth, not looking up from the documents he was holding.

Hikaru nodded in support of his twin.

"He likes to act all scary and 'you better pay back your debt or your body will disappear in the night', but really he's a big softie."

"Softie?" Kyoya echoed in amusement and took a sip of his tea. "This character analysis of myself is very entertaining, please do go on." There was an undertone of a warning in his voice but the twins had gone too far to stop now.

"I reckon he has a teddy tucked away somewhere at home," Karou smirked.

"You are getting us confused," the Shadow Prince shook his head at them and pointed a pencil at Tamaki. The blonde perked his head up from a few tables away and scowled at the twins.

"You leave my teddy out of this!"

The mention of teddies clearly got Hunny's attention and he piped up from the table where he was eating cake.

"Kyoya-chan can't be that bad." Hunny took another mouthful of sugar and swallowed it. "If he were he wouldn't be able to entertain the ladies."

"Yeah..."

"... that's right."

The twins turned gleaming gazes onto their target who was suitably unimpressed and had moved on from whatever reading he was doing onto the club's finances on his laptop.

"At least one of us has to think about the image that the Host Club is presenting, and customer satisfaction is paramount." The glare of the computer screen lit up his glasses and hid his eyes. "I don't believe that makes me a...what was the word you used...softie?"

Haruhi was watching the interchange with interest. Normally Kyoya didn't get involved in any of the twin's nonsense but this time they'd clearly found a weakness and were getting under his skin.

"Maybe not a softie," she added, carrying over the tray of tea and instant coffee, "but you do like to portray yourself as the bad guy." She set the tray down on the table and snapped her fingers. "I've got it. Like when you wanted to make a point about me putting myself in dangerous situations when we were at the beach?" She gave a little laugh. "So you pinned me to the bed and told me I could pay off my debt with my body?" She chuckled again at the amusing memory, but no one else seemed to be laughing. She looked at Kyoya to find that he had frozen to the spot, his fingers still on the computer keys.

"Haruhi?" he uttered finally, in an eerily calm voice, eyes still on the screen, "I think we agreed never to mention that."

A shiver of foreboding went down her spine and she slowly looked at the other members of the Host Club who had their mouths hanging open. The cold ice of horror clenched her gut as she comprehended where this was now going to go.

"You did what?!"

The yell came from the expected source, filled with rage, as the King of the Host Club jumped up from his table and blazed towards his second in command. Harhui waited that split second for someone to stop him, someone sensible, someone with a cool head, but to her astonishment nobody moved. So she did.

There were a few sudden gasps as Tamaki ground to a halt, his route to Kyoya blocked by the small brunette, her eyes hard.

"I may not be able to physically restrain you Senpai, but I'm telling you to back off."

From his seat behind her Kyoya had lifted his head in surprise. He knew his club. He knew its members. No one was supposed to step in, not over something like this...and yet _she _had.

Tamaki's fists were still balled at his side, as though to hit his friend, and Haruhi took another step forward into his space.

"You need to calm down." She looked around the other faces for help and the expression on their faces chilled her. "Mori-senpai?" She looked enquiringly at the most helpful, the most sensible of them all, for assistance but his eyes were cold.

"Step aside Haruhi," he requested, voice deadpan.

They were taking this seriously, very seriously, and she felt completely helpless.

"Haruhi, do as he says." The quiet voice behind her gave her a start and she glanced over her shoulder to meet the eyes of the Shadow King. "Step aside." He was resigned, as though he had always expected their reaction to be like this. Which was why, she realised, he'd told her to stay quiet. She understood why he'd done what he had to. She understood, so why didn't they? It made her angry. It made her very angry. Yet her anger made her think faster and she realised the man she needed on her side was stood right in front of her.

"Senpai, back up."

"Let me past Haruhi," his voice was low with warning. It made her angrier and she threw out her hands in front of him.

"Tamaki-senpai, don't make me hit you."

The shock of her words turned his eyes onto her, blazing.

"Hit me! I didn't do anything! He..."

"Didn't do anything." Haruhi abruptly finished for him. The Host King seemed to pause and she took her chance. "Kyoya-senpai was keeping me safe. Safe like you wanted me to be. Your lectures, and their soft comments," she pointed at the twins and they blanched slightly, "none of it made much of a difference did it? _We_ fell out. _They_ just made me realise I needed to apologise for scaring you. _He_..." at this point she glanced at Kyoya's face over her shoulder. It was completely stoic. "...he made me realise what I did wrong."

"What you did wrong?" Tamaki echoed softly, his fist slowly uncurling.

Haruhi shook her head in exasperation. "Don't you remember Senpai? I confronted those boys so they threw me in the sea. I nearly drowned." She folded her arms over her chest. "I thought you were just mad because I got hurt; that because I was a _girl _I couldn't do the same things you did." She sighed and dropped her arms away. "Kyoya-senpai made me realise what you meant. His actions back then have kept me safer than any of your words."

"Oh...how do you figure that?" Tamaki whispered sharply.

Haruhi took a step away from him, glaring. "Well I didn't do it again did I?"

For a few moments there was total silence in the room, except for the ticking of the clock and the light breathing, as nobody moved. All eyes were on their leader, their minds processing Haruhi's words. Slowly the tension drained from Tamaki's shoulders and his hands completely relaxed although his face remained grim.

"I may not want to kill you any more but I'm still mad at you," he pointed at his friend with a glare and Kyoya merely nodded.

"I anticipated that. I will resign with immediate effect if that is what you would like." He gestured to the laptop screen when there was no response. "It won't take long to put together my work to pass on."

Although he was trying to be unemotional about it Harhui could hear the strain in his tone as he waited for his King's verdict...his friend's verdict. Tamaki ran a hand through his hair in frustration before looking up at the ceiling.

"Don't be ridiculous."

It was awkwardly said and quietly uttered but Haruhi felt the atmosphere in the room uncrackle a fraction. She felt herself take a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding.

Kyoya tilted his head in gratitude. "Nevertheless I think I will make myself scarce for a few days while you process this information. I can work from home. Please give my apologies to my guests?"

Tamaki nodded once and standing to his feet, Kyoya picked up his laptop, and walked out.

There was a beat of silence before another shout split the air.

"Haruhi, why didn't you say anything?"

* * *

><p>It was a couple of hours before Haruhi managed to escape the verbal lashing she got for keeping secrets. The twins and Tamaki had taken it in turns to admonish with her and question her until she was completely exhausted. Even Mori and Hunny stood quietly to the side giving her a measured look, and not even attempting to intervene. Eventually though she'd had enough and announced that they'd have to continue tomorrow because she was going home. The one advantage of it though, that she had noticed, was the more they had interrogated her, and the more she had explained what had happened, the less angry they seemed to be at Kyoya.<p>

'That's good,' she thought, as she grabbed her bag and headed out the door, 'since I caused all this trouble.'

She was so busy thinking that she bumped straight into Kyoya outside the door.

"Sorry Senpai!" she gasped and then paused, quickly checking over his face for any secret punches someone might have sneaked. "I thought you had left."

Kyoya nodded, "I did but in all the fuss I forgot my laptop cable." He held up the offending item and dropped it back down again, lapsing into silence.

"Do you think they'll get over it?" she asked quietly, guilt settling in her stomach.

"In time," Kyoya nodded, glancing into the club room through the small gap behind her at the shell-shocked members, "once the impact has worn off. Besides...you won over Tamaki."

Haruhi sighed and shook her head. "I am so sorry Senpai. I shouldn't have said..." She was cut off by a raised a hand.

"It is I who should apologise Miss Fujioka." He was still looking into the music room, avoiding her eyes. "I did what I thought was necessary at the time, but that doesn't mean it was right."

There was a moment of silence before she broke it.

"But somebody's got to be the bad guy, right Kyoya?" He twisted his head sharply to meet her eyes before he shut his with a smile, dipping his head.

"You really are an interesting woman Haruhi."

Hesitantly she reached out and placed a light hand on his arm.

"Don't stay away too long, okay?" and with a nod she departed from him down the corridor.

Kyoya watched her walk away, a strange sensation in his stomach.

"How could I possibly?"


End file.
